They don’t mix well, my friends, and American Express should include a very clear warning to that effect on their gift card labels. The problem? Gas merchants may authorize the card for its maximum amount whenever you swipe it at the pump, regardless of how much gas you may or may not actually buy. Last weekend I swiped my card (which had never been used, and carried a value of $100) and accidentally picked up the diesel nozzle instead of the unleaded nozzle. After about 30 seconds trying to fit the nozzle into my tank (the scary thing is how close I came to just squeezing the handle over the tank hole),  I realized I was holding a diesel nozzle and replaced it on the pump. So now, that transaction that had been initiated by swiping my card was canceled. No big deal, I can just swipe the card again and use the green nozzle, right? Wrong. The card has already been authorized for its entire value, and now reports a $0 balance – even though I didn’t actually purchase anything. At the time, I didn’t know what had happened and I just assumed there was a problem with the card activation or whatever, so I used another card to get a little bit of gas to hold me to the next station. At the next station, I took the card inside (thinking it needed to be activated at an actual register first) but got declined again. Finally I called AMEX to ask why I was getting declined and the customer service rep explained what had happened at the first POS transaction. I was informed that it could take 7 business days for the discrepancy to be resolved.

To quote Charlie Brown, “ARRRHGHGHGHHG!” It’s just so frustrating, because the customer service rep told me that next time I want to use the card to buy gas, I should take it inside the gas station and get them to charge the card at a cash register. OK, WHY COULDN’T YOU PUT THAT ON THE GIFT CARD LABEL? There is a big sticker over the top of the card with some basic info about how to use it. Don’t you think this would be important enough to tell your customers? I do. OBVS.